A Gaffney man claims he had previous relationships with three women he is accused of sexually assaulting last December.

Jonathan Leon Byers, who is now 19, is on trial this week on three counts of criminal sexual conduct, first degree burglary, illegal possession of a firearm and one count of armed robbery. Byers is charged in connection with sexual assaults which occurred Dec. 6, 11 and 13, 2006. Each incident occurred between the hours of 3 and 7 a.m.

Byers testified he had sex with the three women but that it was with each one's consent.

Police said they used DNA to link Byers to the three women, all of whom testified they do not know Byers.

Byers provided a swab from his cheek at the request of police, who brought him in for questioning about the Nov. 22 shooting of a prostitute on Coyle Hill Road. Byers is charged with assault and battery with intent to kill and possession of a stolen vehicle in connection with the shooting. He has not yet been tried on those charges.

The three women provided dramatic testimony Monday, each recalling what they said occurred on the dates they said they were assaulted.

The women said the person who assaulted them wore a mask that covered his face with the exception of his eyes. Each said their attacker held them at gunpoint with a silver colored handgun.

Two of the women testified they were sexually assaulted twice.

One woman said a black man woke her up while she was asleep in the home where she grew up. She said the man pointed a handgun at her and told her to take her clothes off and then sexually assaulted her.

"I was mainly looking at his eyes and the gun," she told the Cherokee County jury. "I had heard about a woman who survived an attack by cooperating."

Another woman, 23, testified she awoke early on the morning of Dec. 13 to find a man pulling the covers off her bed.

When she scrambled to get her cell phone, the man took her phone and then sexually assaulted her while her four children were sleeping in the next room, she said.

A third woman testified she came home Dec. 11 and walked into her kitchen to find a man standing beside the stove. She said the man pointed a handgun at her, made her go into her bedroom and then sexually assaulted her.

"I kept saying, 'Please stop,' and 'Don't do this,' and asked him 'Why?'," the woman testified. "He just kept telling me to 'Shut up' when I spoke."

Several State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) lab technicians and DNA experts provided testimony on how Byers' DNA compared with specimens from rape kits that were administered on the three women at Upstate Carolina Medical Center. SLED DNA lab technician Kenneth Bogan said he was able to match Byers' DNA profile with each of the women.

Byers' trial will continue today with the defense expected to call several witnesses.